System, method, and computer-readable medium for user equipment handoff from a macrocellular network to an IP-femtocell network

摘要

A system, method, and computer readable medium for handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system is provided. A micro-pilot assisted handoff routine may be implemented to facilitate handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system. The femtocell system may transmit very low power pilot, paging, and synch channels on a common frequency used by the macrocellular system. In another embodiment, a mobile assisted handoff routine facilitates handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system. The user equipment's preferred roaming list includes an entry for the femtocell system and specifies a SID/NID and pseudo-noise offset for the femtocell system. The user equipment is configured to periodically enter a search mode to attempt to locate the femtocell system by switching to a femto carrier that is specified in the preferred roaming list.

主权项

1. A method of handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system, comprising:
provisioning the user equipment with a preferred roaming list that includes an entry allocated for the femtocell system that specifies a system identification number and network identification number associated with the femtocell system, the system identification number and network identification number being transmitted by the femtocell on a second carrier frequency that is different than a first carrier frequency used by the macrocellular system; wherein the preferred roaming list specifies the second carrier frequency as associated with the femtocell system; detecting, by the user equipment, the system identification number and network identification number over an air interface; evaluating the preferred roaming list to determine whether the detected system identification number and network identification number match the system identification number and the network identification number associated with the femtocell system; reading a pseudo-noise offset associated with the femtocell system from the preferred roaming list, wherein detecting the system identification number and network identification number comprises switching, at a predefined interval, from the first carrier frequency to the second carrier frequency to attempt detection of the system identification number and the network identification number and detecting the system identification number and network identification number at the pseudo-noise offset; decoding, by the user equipment, the system identification number and the network identification number and determining whether the system identification number and the network identification number is assigned to the femtocell system; comparing, by the user equipment, the system identification number and the network identification number with the preferred roaming list entry to determine if the system identification number and the network identification number match the preferred roaming list entry; and when the system identification number and the network identification number match the preferred roaming list entry, registering the user equipment with the femtocell system; and identifying a service provider prioritized list from the preferred roaming list.